Taking EDC 102H has been transformational for me, and I am very thankful that I did not end my undergraduate career without learning the valuable lessons I learned in the class. Primarily, reflecting on the “game of school,” discussing current issues in education, and considering new ways to manage knowledge have made a huge impact on the way I approach learning. In this essay, I will describe how I used Evernote, Evernote Web Clipper, and Zotero to support my work in EDC 102H and other courses. Additionally, I will describe my Personal Knowledge Base (PKB)’s organizational scheme by explaining the structure of my notebooks and tags on Evernote. Furthermore, I will reflect on how I think that viewing my notes as a lasting resource might affect how I participate in future courses and life experiences. I am so thankful to have PKB tools integrated into my educational routine, and there are many ways in which I have grown because of my use of such tools.
Evernote, Evernote Web Clipper, and Zotero were all brand new to me upon entering EDC 102H and my unfamiliarity with them intimidated me. My fear of trying something new, such as Evernote, is related to my fear of failure that has been instilled in me from years of being praised for getting good grades. As I learned in this class, being reprimanded for struggling stunted my ability to grow into an adventurous and ambitious learner. So, knowing this, I took on the challenge of learning how to use the new web applications and I have been thriving with them. I use Evernote Web Clipper almost every day to clip articles, websites, and videos related to the subjects I am studying or interested in studying. Similarly, Zotero has become a large part of my academic success. Knowing that citing my sources is going to be easy has enabled me to start assignments sooner because I am less afraid of not doing well or taking a long time completing the assignment. I have gained a lot of confidence that I have needed for about a decade of my schooling, and Evernote and Zotero have made that change possible.
There is a specific way that I use Evernote that has enabled me to receive the benefits of managing knowledge with Evernote’s capabilities. On my Evernote application, I have four folders: EDC 102H, Honors Project, and Gender. Since all of my classes relate to education, gender, or both, my Evernote folders encompass everything I am currently studying. Some examples of tags I use are “education,” “marriage,” and “interpersonal violence,” but I have not actually taken advantage of the benefits of using tags. I feel that I am building the foundation of my PKB right now and that I will eventually have enough information in my Evernote folders to begin synthesizing articles based on tag similarity. I intend on improving the way I add to my PKB on Evernote by adding more than I currently do, using tags with general titles and specific subtitles, adding summaries of what I read to the articles I clip, and looking at the articles I clip after I clip them in order to summarize and synthesize new knowledge so that I can make connections between sources.
Viewing my notes as a lasting resource will definitely affect how I participate in future courses. While I have introduced Evernote into my life, I have not used it to it’s potential because I am so used to using information to complete an assignment rather than for the purpose of long-term intellectual growth. Currently, I use Evernote to keep a list of resources I plan on using to complete an assignment. In the future, I hope the spend time on Evernote looking over resources I have clipped even after I am done with my assignments so that the information I ingest can sink in and possibly be useful in the future. In addition, viewing my notes as a lasting resource will give me reason to work hard creating them and making sure that they are logically organized. I will start taking pictures of my notes and uploading them to Evernote because having one physical notebook for each class I am taking is not helping me make connections between subjects or between old and new information. I am looking forward to building a virtual bank of knowledge so that my hard work is more meaningful and beneficial to my personal and professional growth.
Learning about the “Game of School” redirected my efforts from trying to get good grades to acquiring knowledge for the sake of making connections and learning about topics I am passionate in. By creating a virtual Personal Knowledge Base has given me a sense of purpose while I am reading, listening, and searching online every day. What I once would have read and forgotten is now seen as an important addition to my Evernote and Zotero files. I have a much greater desire to research and write because doing I have such an easy way to save and cite interesting material. I use Evernote, Evernote Web Clipper, and Zotero whenever I find an article, video, blog, etc. that I am interested in and save it in case I might want to use it at a later date, which makes it much more enjoyable to do assignments when they are assigned because I have a large list of useful information that I have already collected. Having different Evernote folders for education, gender, and the classes/projects I am currently involved in helps me prepare for future assignments by getting me thinking about the topics and having a specific list for each subject before it is time to write a research paper or create a presentation. Lastly, viewing my notes as a lasting resource has enabled me to engage in my education in a meaningful way because I find more reason in the work that I do. Overall, EDC 102H has been an extremely significant class for me because of the experience I gained creating and utilizing my own Personal Knowledge Base.
Taking EDC 102H has been transformational for me, and I am very thankful that I did not end my undergraduate career without learning the valuable lessons I learned in the class. Primarily, reflecting on the “game of school,” discussing current issues in education, and considering new ways to manage knowledge have made a huge impact on the way I approach learning. In this essay, I will describe how I used Evernote, Evernote Web Clipper, and Zotero to support my work in EDC 102H and other courses. Additionally, I will describe my Personal Knowledge Base (PKB)’s organizational scheme by explaining the structure of my notebooks and tags on Evernote. Furthermore, I will reflect on how I think that viewing my notes as a lasting resource might affect how I participate in future courses and life experiences. I am so thankful to have PKB tools integrated into my educational routine, and there are many ways in which I have grown because of my use of such tools.
Evernote, Evernote Web Clipper, and Zotero were all brand new to me upon entering EDC 102H and my unfamiliarity with them intimidated me. My fear of trying something new, such as Evernote, is related to my fear of failure that has been instilled in me from years of being praised for getting good grades. As I learned in this class, being reprimanded for struggling stunted my ability to grow into an adventurous and ambitious learner. So, knowing this, I took on the challenge of learning how to use the new web applications and I have been thriving with them. I use Evernote Web Clipper almost every day to clip articles, websites, and videos related to the subjects I am studying or interested in studying. Similarly, Zotero has become a large part of my academic success. Knowing that citing my sources is going to be easy has enabled me to start assignments sooner because I am less afraid of not doing well or taking a long time completing the assignment. I have gained a lot of confidence that I have needed for about a decade of my schooling, and Evernote and Zotero have made that change possible.
There is a specific way that I use Evernote that has enabled me to receive the benefits of managing knowledge with Evernote’s capabilities. On my Evernote application, I have four folders: EDC 102H, Honors Project, and Gender. Since all of my classes relate to education, gender, or both, my Evernote folders encompass everything I am currently studying. Some examples of tags I use are “education,” “marriage,” and “interpersonal violence,” but I have not actually taken advantage of the benefits of using tags. I feel that I am building the foundation of my PKB right now and that I will eventually have enough information in my Evernote folders to begin synthesizing articles based on tag similarity. I intend on improving the way I add to my PKB on Evernote by adding more than I currently do, using tags with general titles and specific subtitles, adding summaries of what I read to the articles I clip, and looking at the articles I clip after I clip them in order to summarize and synthesize new knowledge so that I can make connections between sources.
Viewing my notes as a lasting resource will definitely affect how I participate in future courses. While I have introduced Evernote into my life, I have not used it to it’s potential because I am so used to using information to complete an assignment rather than for the purpose of long-term intellectual growth. Currently, I use Evernote to keep a list of resources I plan on using to complete an assignment. In the future, I hope the spend time on Evernote looking over resources I have clipped even after I am done with my assignments so that the information I ingest can sink in and possibly be useful in the future. In addition, viewing my notes as a lasting resource will give me reason to work hard creating them and making sure that they are logically organized. I will start taking pictures of my notes and uploading them to Evernote because having one physical notebook for each class I am taking is not helping me make connections between subjects or between old and new information. I am looking forward to building a virtual bank of knowledge so that my hard work is more meaningful and beneficial to my personal and professional growth.
Learning about the “Game of School” redirected my efforts from trying to get good grades to acquiring knowledge for the sake of making connections and learning about topics I am passionate in. By creating a virtual Personal Knowledge Base has given me a sense of purpose while I am reading, listening, and searching online every day. What I once would have read and forgotten is now seen as an important addition to my Evernote and Zotero files. I have a much greater desire to research and write because doing I have such an easy way to save and cite interesting material. I use Evernote, Evernote Web Clipper, and Zotero whenever I find an article, video, blog, etc. that I am interested in and save it in case I might want to use it at a later date, which makes it much more enjoyable to do assignments when they are assigned because I have a large list of useful information that I have already collected. Having different Evernote folders for education, gender, and the classes/projects I am currently involved in helps me prepare for future assignments by getting me thinking about the topics and having a specific list for each subject before it is time to write a research paper or create a presentation. Lastly, viewing my notes as a lasting resource has enabled me to engage in my education in a meaningful way because I find more reason in the work that I do. Overall, EDC 102H has been an extremely significant class for me because of the experience I gained creating and utilizing my own Personal Knowledge Base.